Even if all you do is pray, you’re going to be asking for many things for other people. This is much truer if you’re a leader.
Few things will touch a person’s heart more than to see and hear a sibling, child, parent, or whomever on their knees seeking God’s help for them. On the other hand, few things hurt more than not to see that. I heard once of a missionary who was so excited to go to the field, and yet felt so down later. He felt like all his strength was gone. He returned to his home church unannounced as they were holding a prayer meeting. Then, he knew right away why he felt like he’d failed out there. They didn’t mention him once in prayer! People can feel it when you pray. They need it.
Whole books have been written about prayer. We’ll try to sum up hundreds of pages into a few.
A. God sees prayer as important
“Pray ye one for another, that ye may be healed; the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” (James 5:16) After a mention of the week’s requests, and a reminder of ongoing requests and ministries, this reminder from Scripture is given just before we go to our knees every Sunday afternoon in our church’s mens’ prayer room. We are also reminded of the prophet Samuel’s words to King Saul: “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord, in ceasing to pray for you.” (1 Samuel 12:23)
God takes prayer very seriously. He wants us to pray. And yet, as that first verse shows, specific things are important.
B. God wants prayer that’s specific
People have many needs. On our church bus, we sometimes get requests for sick kittens or puppies. That’s fine. God uses incidents like that to help to build our faith. He knows that our bodies and, even more, our hearts break, because of the sin in this world. When we pray for specific things, God can work much more readily than if we just ask Him to “bless this person.” As long as we’re humble, he will understand if we get a name wrong, or a situation. We just need to be careful we don’t act like we know just what the person needs. God knows best. So, let Him lead you in prayer.
God wants prayer that’s specific for another reason. There is spiritual warfare going on all around us. We never command angels on our own. But, God can. So, let’s say we pray, “Lord, bless all our missionaries and keep them safe.” Okay, that’s fine. But, there might be one specific missionary who is facing a very tough time. By praying for each one specifically, it narrows the field of battle that we are in, so our prayers go directly to that specific person.
I don’t understand how all of that works. It’s one of those things we don’t really understand, as people. However, I can give a good example.
C. God helps those in need
I don’t recall what famous speaker told this story. But, a Christian boy of about seventeen was out with friends one evening. He was sober, he didn’t drink, but his friends were all passing around a bottle of beer and bugging him to have some.
He was doing well avoiding it at first. However, after a while, the temptation was getting stronger. The constant pounding on his mind as he drove with them finally started to get to him, and he grabbed the bottle. He struggled, then began to raise it to his mouth.
Just as he was about to have a drink, though, he suddenly threw the bottle out of the car, and drove his friends home, insisting that he would have nothing to do with that. And, he never did drink. But, what really amazed him was when he got home.
He hadn’t noticed, but he was out a little past his curfew. He was never late. His mother ran up to him, very thankful he was safe. When he related the story, she surprised him. She asked him when it was that he’d been tempted by that bottle.
He told her, and she explained that she hadn’t been able to sleep because he was out past curfew. And, just at the time that he was tempted, she felt an overwhelming urge to pray for his safety. Obviously, that prayer worked.
It worked because she had a good relationship with the Lord. We need to pray for others. But, while our own needs shouldn’t be the focus of all our prayers, it’s okay to pray for yourself, too. He is well acquainted with our problems.
